The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1887-04-14
THIEVES CAUGHT.
Over Fifty Hands of the Pan Handle
System Arrested.
Over Tive Hundred Warrants Out for
their Pals,
For Stealing Merchandise from
Freight Trans.
Al Organic d Band Of Thieves Along
the Entire Line.
An Oregon Judge Decides Against the
Long and Short Haul.

railroad robbers operating on the Pan
Handle system have been detected and
the first arrests were made about q
O'Clock this morning, the police sur
prlslng eighteen men at their boarding
houses. The men were taken at once
TO JAN. Further arrests were made be-
tween two O'Clock and daylight. when
fortY-SIX, all railroad employees, con-
ductors, brakemen, firemen and engi-
neees, were behind the bars. In speak
ing OF the arrests, prominent officer
OF the Pan Handle road, said: For
three years past the Pan Handle
road has been Systematically
robbed. Cars on sidings and cars in
moving trains were broken open and
goods stolen, including every descrip-
ton of merchandise. 1t is estimated
that at least $500, 900 worth of goods
were taken, for which the company had
to pay. In August last we got ii clue
ana detectives were employed Wlle. fel-
lowed up every scent. When every
thing Was ready we decided to make a
move all along the line from Co
lumbus to Pittsburg and 2
o'cock this morning was
fixed to strike the blow. About eighty
warrants were issued for men in Pitts
burg. l can't tell how many for other
places, but it was every point along
the line and it will run up in the hun
dreds. 1t is the biggest thing of the
kind that ever happened in Pittsburg,
or in railroad matters in the world, for
nothing like it has ever happened be-
fore. We suspect outsiders of being
implicated in the robberies, but know
nothing positive. Early one morning
some months ago, at Sheridan station,
near this city, d train was stopped
for water and an attack was made on
he crew and in the fight d fireman was
illed, two cars were broken open and
their contents stolen. Baker is accused
Of firing the shot that killed the fire.
nan, and this understood to be one of
the thirty-eight charges against him.
John II. Hampton, Esq. attorney for
the Pennsylvania company, was seen
this morning in the Office of detective
agency, where he was settling amidst
he heterogeneous collection of plumber
He said: These robberies have been
carried on Systematically for several
years. The company have long been
aware that there was a leakage some
where, and as early as September, 1886,
they quietly commenced an inveStiga-
ton. Detectives were placed on trains.
wherekgoods could he watched and the
thieves were caught. We had already
| discovered that the culprits were EN-
piOyeS OF the company. In September
there were eighty crews of freight
trains on the Pan Handle railroad
coming into PittsbuTg. OF these eighty
crews no less than seventy-fve were
found to be crooked. The crew con-
SiStS of conductor. iagman and two
orakemen. and in some cases all the
men were involved: in others only part.
The statement that engineers and
tiremen were mixed up in the robbery
is wrong. Not a single one is in
volved. The goods were obtained by
thieves in various ways. In many in
stances seals were broken. while in
others hatchetS were used to cut a hole
in the end of the car. through which
men would crawl and take what they
coveted, and then they reported the
car in bad condition, claim
ing that the hole had been
made by accident. The operations
were all the result of combination.
The arrangements were carefully made
and each rascal was assigned to his
particular post of work in much the
same way as bank robbery is con-
Quoted by professional craftsmen. l
do not know that the members of the
combination were oath-bound or any
thing of that kind, but it is certain
that thorough understanding existed
among them and they acted in concert
to cover each others miSdOings. The
thing which alarmed us more than
anything else was that they stole large
quantities of whisky and drank it in
the cabooses. They needed vessels to
hold the liquor, SO they stole milk cans
and kept it in them. Not daring to
keep whisky openly in the cars they tore
up the flooring and hid it underneath.
Men were continually reported drunk
on duty and the probability of disaster
was something frightful to contem-
plate. All kinds of goods were stolen
including sewing machines, guns, re-
volvers. cutlery, silverware, cigars,
clothing, liquors, groceries, furniture
| and in fact, everything imaginable
that can be carried on a car, were
quietly removed. The depreda-
tiOns were committed all along the
| road, and the losers reside at points
! as far west as Denver, Fences were
established in this city, where the
stolen property was taken and then
| sold, the money being evenly divided
| among the crews. 1t is impossible to
give what the aggregate value of the
property stolen is, but it will not reach
| $500. 600, as reported" The arrests
have created the greatest excitement
among the railroad employees of this
| city.
Seven more arrests have been made
and nearly 200 warrants are still out,
| and it is expected that the list of ar
rests in this city will be swelled to
| eighty before night. a number of
| houses in various parts of the city,
were raided to-day and large quanti-
| ty of goods recovered. Every man ar
rested had stolen goods somewhere.
| Among the prisoners are several des-
perate characters, who were wanted
/ by the police for other offenSes. They
were all armed and when not taken by
surprise resisted arrest. Their num-
bers were Overpowered, however, and
| all were safely lodged in Jail. A dis
| patch from Dennison says the officers
have arrested James and W. Coils
/ with several thousand dollars worth OF
velvets and high-priced dry goods
Z and notions in their possession.
| articles taken from United States
bonded cars, enroute to Chicago. St
Louis and other points west. One
Busby, the worst man in the gang
| slipped his handouts and reeklessly
threw himself from the train whilst II
was going and escaped.
| The most important arrest made
here was that of Brakeman Young
He called at the jail to see one of the
prisoners this morning and was inn
mediately locked up. AT first
he protested his innocence. but
i etAAAAIlSA that 1AEtu a IOi
of stolen property at his home and told
how the goods had come in his posses
sion. His confession Will, it is
said. convict thirteen crews
kilograms from CadiZ, SteubenvilIt
and points west of Columbus report the
arrest of large number of railroad
employees implicated in the robbery.
To Joseph Rue, special agent of the
Pennsylvania Railroad, and Detective
Gflkerson, of this city. is due all the
credit of running the thieves down. In
an interview this afternoon, Mr.. Rue
said: :. Eastern bound trains were moi
InnlasfRd Western honnd trains haNl